Do prices tend to drop after final payment is due?

[cadburysmom]

If you are talking about Oasis/Allure....Cat Z's often get assigned as Boardwalk or Central park balconies....but that's not a definite....if you are a single I would be looking to book a Cat Z Guar....unless you know for sure you want a ocean view balcony.

The choices for inside guarantee are Cat Q or Cat Z, with Cat Z being $200 higher and $200 less than an assigned oceanview balcony.:cool:

[briscogun]

How do you follow and track unposted room rates? We are in a family oceanview stateroom next month, and the RC website doesn't list these rooms so I have no way of knowing if prices are going up or down for our room. I guess I could track the other room rates and assume my room is doing something similar, but I didn't keep track of the going rates on other room when I booked mine (over the phone with my own personal vacation coordinator, of course!).

 

Any thoughts from the experts out there? Thanks!

[wack001]

We are planning a cruise on the FOTS to do the Eastern Caribbean and are final payment is next week. This particular cruise is priced a bit higher than the ones around it. I have some family that would like to join us but are concerned about the higher prices. Especially when looking at some of the other cruises. Due to constraints, this is the only cruise we can schedule.

 

 

My question is, if they wait until after final payment is due, do the prices tend to drop? My thinking is there might be enough people sitting on the fence that cancel and get their deposits back, thus dropping the price a little.

 

 

Thanks for any input from those who may track the prices closer than I have.

 

Based on hundreds of articles and talking to numerous agents and I have posted this on my blog9cruisinbob.com), following final payment is when you get the BIG discounts.

Following final payment date is when the cruise line know exactly how many cabins are still open and they want to sail full, the business model on all lines are different even-though the same parent; ie RCL and Celebrity same owner different lines and different business models.

 

The downside is if you target a particular ship and it is almost full then the price will increase as the cruise-line will try and make the most money.

Once you have made final payment it is tough to cancel and rebook, in today's very tough economic times, I suggest you wait.

 

I personally book the airfare if I see a sale and then wait for the cruise price to drop, never failed.

cruisinbob

[Beth C]

It's definitely hit and miss with pricing - my next cruise is on the 1st sailing back in USA after being pulled from Europe on the Navigator was booked for $499 pp for a corner aft balcony the 2nd day they were available for booking (was $479 the day prior... should never debate for a day lol) In the next couple of weeks the price skyrocketed to $1019 pp :eek:

 

They have been slowly coming back down but still no where near what I booked for. My theory is that they needed to get people on the ship quick since it was sailing in 7 months so they had rock bottom prices for the first X # of people booking. Luckily thanks to CC I managed to be one of those ;)

 

That being said - I still check every day or so to see what the prices are... not that I expect to get a price drop but at least I get that feeling of WOW I got a great deal :)

[lrn2cruise]

In all honesty, I just say, dont worry and just book it and get the cabin you want. We leave in 2 weeks for FOS East. The prices for the summer have gone up. I subscribe to fishcruise.net and I get notices and they all go up. At this point, 2 weeks out, fish cruise says cabins are gone, gone and gone.

 

I am not sure if RC plays games on their website or not. I went in and did a mock booking for our cruise and I thought I saw a Jr Suite for the same price as our E2. I called and talked to them and funny how the website just changed? Not sure. It was like a magic act. Maybe the price was to lure new bookings and not us booked people.

 

You can drive yourself nuts wondering when to book. We missed the pandamonium package-oh well, sigh! But!!!! We are booked and will be on The FOS 2 weeks from tomorrow!!!!!!

[lrn2cruise]

or 3 weeks as my sig says? I need to look at a calendar.